When a farmer is preparing his field for planting a new crop, he must conduct several operations on the soil. The farmer uses a plow to break up the soil. He plows the soil until it is satisfactorily broken up into small clumps. This may be accomplished with several pieces of equipment. The first piece of plowing equipment initially breaks up the soil into large clumps, while the second piece of equipment breaks the large soil clumps into smaller clumps. Then, the farmer plants the seed into the plowed field.
The several plowing and planting operations all require different pieces of equipment that are towed behind a tractor. As such, the farmer must make several passes with the tractor over the same ground. This adds to his fuel costs and time. It also increases water loss in the soil, because when the soil is left lying in the field between plowing operations, water evaporates from the newly exposed soil particles. On the next plowing pass, additional soil particles are exposed to the air and suffer water evaporation. Water loss in the soil is of particular concern to farmers in dry regions. Thus, there is a need to minimize the number of passes made with plowing equipment over the ground.
Furthermore, when a farmer plants a new crop, he ideally wishes the soil to be rid of all insect pests and weeds, both of which can be detrimental to his crop. Prior art methods of pest and weed control utilize applications of chemical insecticides and herbicides to the soil. Such chemicals are expensive in and of themselves and expensive to apply to fields. Furthermore, these chemicals, when used year after year, degrade the land by their toxicity.